Parathyroidectomy and Vitamin D Deficiency

I had 3 of my parathyroids removed and they surgeon thought about taking the last because it looked like it was only working 1/2 of the time. The other 3 were mush. My question is this, if the other one stopped altogether, could this cause the vitamin D deficiency I was just diagnosed with today. The surgery was done back in 2005. I have aching bones, blurred vision, hands and feet are always cold, headaches, tingling throughout my limbs, swelling of the feet and hands and sharp stabbing pain from time to time from the left chest cavity to the end of my left hand.

Labs came back stating everything was fine but Vitamin D which they have as of yesterday, placed me on 2000 units daily. My concern though is that the last parathyroid that they left was beat up but not mush like the other three and they were unsure how long it would continue to work. I am wondering if the vitamin D deficiency is related to the parathyroid not functioning properly or not.

you would think that that would be the case, however, they seem to think that my vitamin D deficiency is stemming from the last parathyroid. The surgeon I last saw stated that not only does the parathyroids deal with the amount of calcium you have in your system, but also with vitamins A, E and D with Calcium being the headliner.

That is good to know. I have a calcium deficiency because 2 parathyroids were removed during my TT and the other 2 were "stunned". They have not resumed working. I take 2000mg calcium and 1000iu vitD to help with absorption. It took a while for us to figure out that I needed the vitD, but that makes sense with the damaged parathyroids.
Trish

Even though you say your calcium levels are fine I would still search out information under the terms hypocalcemea; low calcium and hypoparathyroidism. In entering any of those terms, plus the term vtamin d, you might come across information that could help you. I know in having looked up those subjects myself vitamin d and all the issues associated with it often get touched on.

So in your dealings with all of this, let me ask you.... have you had symptoms of TIA's or numbness and tingling on your left side along with weakness? I have also been having a lot of "hotflashes" for the past few days and seem to be getting weaker as well. The headaches are still there and all my bones and muscles hurt. I know that a lot of these symptoms fall under the vitamin D deficiency classification, however, I am wondering if they caught this too late and something else might need to be done or is this gonna take a long time to regain my normality? It's impossible to work right now due to all the pain and discomfort not to mention me being worn out all the time. My immune system also seems to be getting worse. I have no idea where my T cells are sitting right now but based on the two recent illnesses I just went through, I am beginning to wonder if I have digressed.

So in your dealings with all of this, let me ask you.... have you had symptoms of TIA's or numbness and tingling on your left side along with weakness? I have also been having a lot of "hotflashes" for the past few days and seem to be getting weaker as well. The headaches are still there and all my bones and muscles hurt. I know that a lot of these symptoms fall under the vitamin D deficiency classification, however, I am wondering if they caught this too late and something else might need to be done or is this gonna take a long time to regain my normality? It's impossible to work right now due to all the pain and discomfort not to mention me being worn out all the time. My immune system also seems to be getting worse. I have no idea where my T cells are sitting right now but based on the two recent illnesses I just went through, I am beginning to wonder if I have digressed.

I can’t really say I have experienced TIA, since when my issues arise they occur on either side and I rarely get weak. That’s not to say something like that wouldn’t be taking place for me, goodness knows it’s something to be concerned over, but I’m not aware of it at this time. I do know that when my vit d has gotten too low I’ve experienced similar things to what you describe.

Obviously this is distressing for you, but it sounds like you’re going to have to give it some time to see if the current vit d therapy regime shows any improvement.
If your immune system is low right now, at least there’s a correlative issue to explain what might be going on (jmt). Hopefully, it will improve in time as this all gets resolved. Can’t a blood test show the status of the immune system? Perhaps your dr can help allay your fears by ordering blood work on that.

Keep in touch.

BTW – I go along with nissah46, in that I’d still keep the status of your calcium in mind. So many symptoms get relieved for me by just upping that a bit.

So things have gotten worse. Now I have pin pricking in my hands and feet along with my face. My headaches are worse and it hurts to get up and walk around. The left side of my face feels numb and my tongue is all cut up. I am really lethargic and just want to sleep. It's like having mono but to the extremes with stroke like symptoms added on.

Get help now! it sounds like you are approaching critically low levels of calcuim, and if this is so, it will mess with your heart rhythm and can cause you to go into cardiac arrest! Do not mess with this any longer! ~MM

I am getting worse as the days go by but I see my Rheumatologist tomorrow morning. Their office called and said the rest of the blood work came back and everything was normal but my Vitamin D deficiency however, I asked the nurse what was my calcium level and she replied that it was slightly elevated. Which, by all the research and help from you all has me inclined to think that my last parathyroid has stopped working and I have hypocalcemea. All the symptoms fall in line with it and according to the research done on this disease, if you have it, you will either have slightly higher or lower calcium levels and this is most of the time missed as an issue by the medical professionals unless the professional knows what he or she is looking for. So tomorrow I get to address this to him and see where we go from here. I am so tired of hurting like this and the headaches and tingling all over my body to include my face is getting on my nerves, not to mention feeling worthless here at home. I hurt and have no energy to do anything and I feel like I am letting my wife down. This is not me and they really need to get this fixed now so I can go back to leading a very productive life. I am too young to be like this.

I'm sorry this continues to be distressing for you. Hopefully your Rheumatologist will have some answers.

Honestly, if your calcium is slightly elevated it would usually indicate that your parathyroid gland is hyper, not hypo. That means it's overworking and could be the cause of what's going on for you.

It sounds like you need a full evaluation and hopefully the dr can help you with that.

Perhaps you'll get to read this before going to the dr, so as a friendly reminder: Please remember to detail all of your symptoms. Do so regardless of whether anything seems relevant or not. With parathyroid disease, as you know, anything is often times something.

Please let us know how the appt goes .. Rheumys generally are very very thorough and they go thru all diseases as a process of elimination one by one ... I hope you are on the road to answers ... Hmmmm on the para's and the Vit D connection and the elevated calcium.. the higher the calcium the less productive the para's are or the shorter this has been in duration .. that's what I think my Endo told me as I'm high normal on the calcium with low Vit D. My cardiac enzymes are A-OK .. they checked those with the low Vit D levels to be safe.

Hiya!
I'm wondering if she meant normal parathyroid function would be: PTH and calcium should read opposite of each other...Normally if the PTH is elevated, the calcium level should be low, if the PTH is lower, it is because there is enough or too much calcium in the blood and the parathyroids have slowed the PTH output...If both are high or both are low, something isn't working correctly...Yes? ~MM

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